SunTrust Tower is the latest Downtown high-rise building to be sold.
Mainstreet Capital Partners, a Fort Lauderdale-based real estate investment company, paid $31.1 million last week for the 23-story building at 76 S. Laura St.
Mainstreet CV 76 S. Laura St. LLC bought the Northbank property in six major transactions from five owners, according to deeds recorded Friday with the Duval County Clerk of Court. BMO Harris Bank of Chicago issued a $27.15 million mortgage.
The sale restores the building to a single property holder.
“This is a huge positive for the building and Downtown to have it converted back to one owner,” said Cushman & Wakefield Senior Director Traci Jenks, the structure’s leasing agent.
The largest deeds show Mainstreet paid:
• $19.999 million for units from Parador Laura Street Offices LLC, led by Ashish Bahl.
• $8.325 million for units from Trimurti Investments Inc. of Orlando, whose vice president is Jacqueline Frowd.
• $1.356 million for units from Go-To-Pay LLC, whose manager is Bahl.
• $800,000 for units from National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Inc., whose CEO is Kory Ward-Cook.
• $350,000 for units from Trimurti Investments Inc.
• $292,374 for a condominium from CREX-McBurney LLC, led by Charles McBurney Jr.
Several other smaller deeds were recorded at $100 each, transferring units and building systems and equipment.
Parador Parking LLC also deeded the garage parcel to Mainstreet CV 76 S. Laura St. LLC. The 600-space Parador garage is under construction at 37 S. Hogan St., next to the tower.
The city has an economic development agreement with Parador Parking LLC. Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace sent a March 24 letter to Parador Parking saying the city consents to the deal.
Mainstreet Capital Partners, led by President and Partner Paul Kilgallon, invests in office and industrial buildings. He started the company in 1999.
It owns and manages 3.2 million square feet valued at more than $407 million throughout the Southeast U.S., including seven properties in Florida.
The 383,239-square-foot SunTrust Tower was built in 1989. It had been marketed as office-condominiums by Florida investor Cameron Kuhn, who bought the structure in 2005.
After the lender took title to the property in 2008, the office space that remained unsold was made available for lease.
Parador Partners bought the space in 2009.
Jenks was hired by Parador Partners in January as the exclusive leasing representative for the 280,000 square feet it owned within the tower. Jenks said Sunday she remains the leasing agent for the entire building.
In January, PwC, the name for the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm, said it would move from the nearby Bank of America Tower onto the 21st floor of SunTrust Tower. Build-out was approved March 18 for Diversified Building Contractors LLC to renovate space for PwC at a cost of $900,000.
Jenks said Accretive Solutions also leased space, while tenants Morgan & Morgan and Elite Parking expanded.
Jenks expects the sale to generate more business.
The tower is the seventh Downtown high-rise office buildings sold to investors since December 2013.
On the Northbank, the Bank of America Tower sold for $88 million; Wells Fargo Center, $79 million; EverBank Center, $47 million; and the 550 Water Street building, $30 million.
On the Southbank, the Aetna Building sold for $55.5 million and Riverplace Tower for $29 million.
Last year was a big one for commercial real estate sales in Jacksonville.
“2014 marked the year of significant investment sales in the office market,” said the Cushman & Wakefield’s MarketBeat fourth-quarter office report for the Jacksonville area.
“At some point in the year, most major Downtown trophy properties traded hands,” it said, adding that some major suburban offices were sold as well.
It predicts more, based on continued job growth and economic expansion.
“Cushman & Wakefield forecasts improvement in Jacksonville’s office market going forward into 2015,” it said.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466